Latest news with #HeidiTaylor
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Aussies take aim at hidden killer on supermarket shelves: 'Warrants further investigation'
You've probably never heard of the term, but you definitely know what it is. There are plenty of supermarket products that when you get them home and open them up, it's hard not to notice there is more packaging than product. In fact, in some cases, there is about twice as much plastic than is actually necessary to house the contents. It is typically done for marketing purposes to make the item appear larger than it is, and thus more appealing to shoppers. In the industry it's known as "non-functional slack fill" – and it's in the crosshairs of dedicated Aussies who are piecing together the global puzzle of plastic pollution. "You may have never heard of the term before, but I guarantee you've seen it," says Heidi Taylor, the CEO of Tangaroa Blue, which has spent more than 20 years cataloguing plastic pollution that's washed up on Australian shores. "It's when you open a package and there is more air in there than product. And there's no functional reason for that." You're probably thinking of chip packets, but they actually do require the extra air so they don't get crushed. "But there's a lot of products that just have the size of the packaging excessive because it's good for marketing," she told Yahoo News Australia. As a result, an untold amount of plastic ends up in the environment for no other reason than intentionally deceiving consumers. The group — and its extensive network of partners and volunteers — recently investigated the extent of the issue by meticulously measuring everyday items and the ratio of actual product inside. And the findings, detailed in a 33-page report, were damning. "About 89 per cent of the products surveyed had more than 50 per cent excess packaging," Taylor told Yahoo. Among some of the worst products were Tide dishwasher pods (395ml of product to 1600ml of packaging), Gravox meat sauces (31ml of sauce to 250ml of plastic), Lindt Assorted chocolates (130ml to 1200ml) and Coles brand Organic Coconut Flakes (200ml to 1700 ml of packaging). "The majority of packaging sampled was made or included components of soft plastics. This is significant because soft plastics are often more challenging to recycle and contribute substantially to plastic pollution," the report notes. Coles had three in-house products identified as particularly bad offenders, and admitted to Yahoo News on Monday it could do better. "Coles continues to work hard to reduce unnecessary plastic packaging from our stores. While Coles Own Brand Wellness Road Maca Powder and Organic Coconut Flakes are subject to product settling leading to headroom in the packaging, we recognise that the volume of slack filling identified in the report warrants further investigation with our supplier to understand if optimisations can be made to reduce unnecessary packaging," a spokesperson told Yahoo. 🌊 Grim photos reveal 'eye-opening' problem at 'Australia's ugliest beach' ☀️ Disturbing vision for Australian beaches as plastic problem grows 🐦 'Sad' reminder about the common grocery item killing Aussie wildlife The group has been presenting their work as part of an ongoing international forum backed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to produce a Global Plastics Treaty. In November, Australia joined nations gathering in South Korea for the fifth round of negotiations to finalise the text of the treaty. Further meetings are scheduled for Switzerland this year before the global document is hopefully finalised next year. The end result of the drawn-out process, aims to establish a legally binding international framework to comprehensively address plastic pollution throughout its entire lifecycle — from production and design to disposal and recycling. One small outcome, if Tangaroa Blue gets its way, could see the amount of superfluous plastic used in packaging everyday supermarket items dramatically reduced. "If we're looking for ways of reducing packaging, we can regulate the amount of air that is allowed in products," Heidi said. "And that would not only reduce plastic production but it would also reduce, significantly, the amount of waste we're creating because of those products." Tackling things like non-functional slack fill is just one aspect of addressing a slow-moving global crisis that hitherto has shown very few signs of improving. "We know plastic lasts for hundreds and hundreds of years... we have to stop making decisions on things that just make life easy," Heidi argued. "If we're really going to address not only plastics in our oceans, but plastics in our bodies and every part of our world, we need to start reducing plastic production and we need to continue to phase out items that shouldn't be made out of plastic in the first place." According to the Australian Marine Conservation Society, it's estimated some 145,000 tonnes of plastic enters our environment each year in Australia, which equates to 250 kilograms a minute. Meanwhile about 100,000 marine animals are thought to be killed globally by ocean plastic ingestion or entanglement each year.
Yahoo
02-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Sad reality behind woman's 'awesome effort' on 200m stretch of remote Aussie coast
It may be a fully protected marine park, but there is no protecting it from the relentless waves upon waves of waste and plastic that wash ashore every day. You've probably never heard of it, but a local woman who spent a recent weekend camping with family and friends in a remote Australian territory in the Indian ocean has highlighted the extent of a growing problem that people like her are systematically trying to address – item by item. Emma was enjoying the beauty of the 'Rip', one of only two fully protected marine park spaces on the southern atoll of Direction Island – a territory closer to Indonesia than the Australian mainland. After going for a snorkel, she embarked on a shoreline clean-up, and managed to find an extraordinary amount of rubbish and plastic nestled along a small stretch of shoreline. "I couldn't believe it—eight bags later and one scooter helmet. It really highlights, to all those who regularly use and love this space, that we need to work together to make a change," she said. Sharing her haul online, the Tangaroa Blue Foundation, which coordinates a huge network of volunteers (like Emma) and uses the Australian Marine Debris Initiative to record rubbish washed up on Australian beaches, said it was a matter of time until the rubbish likely got swept back into the water to pose a threat to marine wildlife. "This marine debris was collected from a mere 200m section of shoreline, ready to wash back into the ocean on the next big tide," it said. While many online praised her "awesome effort", speaking to Yahoo News Australia, Tangaroa Blue's CEO Heidi Taylor said such hauls are just a drop in the ocean, so to speak. "The question I often get asked is if it's getting better," she said. "And the answer is no". RELATED: Grim photos reveal 'eye-opening' problem at 'Australia's ugliest beach' "That's because the world's population is getting bigger and we keep using more and more stuff, even if the same percentage is being released into the environment, that would still equate to a greater volume. "So overall, it is getting worse." After more than 20 years of laboriously counting ocean rubbish, she has been part of building the "biggest database of marine debris in the southern hemisphere". "I remember the days when we first started talking about marine debris and people thought we were talking about driftwood... It wasn't really on anyone's radar back then," she told Yahoo. "The goal was if we knew where it was coming from, we knew the right stakeholder group to engage to find a practical solution." Even after two decades, she is still finding items for the very first time. "Last week I literally found something I've never found in my 21 years – a pool cue," she said. Disturbing vision for Australian beaches as plastic problem grows 'Sad' reminder about the common grocery item killing Aussie wildlife Astonishing number of platypuses found entangled in litter Today, Heidi says the database gives incredibly granular detail over time, showing the effectiveness (or otherwise) of certain programs to reduce waste ending up in our waterways. "We've seen really good successes for particular items that are being targeted – we can tell you what the plastic bag ban has resulted in, in different states, we can tell you what the container deposit scheme has done, what the single use plastic ban has done etc." Overall, it's been a mixed bag. For instance, the supermarket plastic bag ban has largely resulted in different bags washing up. The container deposit scheme has been more successful in reducing waste in NSW than Queensland. Meanwhile certain initiatives targeting cigarette butts have been very successful. Being the first Sunday of March, today is officially Clean Up Australia Day. And for anyone who happens to live near the beach, or simply frequents one occasionally, Hiedi is urging them to get involved with the process. People who want to help are encouraged to download the Australian Marine Debris Initiative app and start cataloguing what they find. "Any dog walker can submit data," Heidi said. "Anybody who wants to contribute is absolutely welcome." Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
